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CBRE highlights trends in Syracuse real-estate market
SYRACUSE — The normalization of hybrid work and a “flight to quality” by commercial-office tenants are two major issues currently affecting the office leasing environment, according to findings presented at CBRE Upstate NY’s Syracuse Market Outlook Midyear Review. The commercial real-estate firm held a review session to go over the findings on June 6 at […]
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SYRACUSE — The normalization of hybrid work and a “flight to quality” by commercial-office tenants are two major issues currently affecting the office leasing environment, according to findings presented at CBRE Upstate NY’s Syracuse Market Outlook Midyear Review.
The commercial real-estate firm held a review session to go over the findings on June 6 at SKY Armory in Syracuse.
According to figures highlighted at the event, the vacancy rate for office space in the Syracuse metro market was 12.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, which was lower than the U.S. national average of 18.6 percent. The market’s asking lease rate for that period was $16.51 per square foot.
Presenters at the CBRE Upstate NY event — which featured Spencer Levy, a global client strategist and senior economic advisor with CBRE, as well as local representatives from CBRE Upstate NY’s Syracuse office — identified some trends currently impacting the commercial real-estate market, both nationally and in Central New York. These trends include:
• The normalization of hybrid work arrangements has limited office demand. This post-pandemic work environment has led to “right-sizing” into smaller spaces. According to the firm’s most recent market report, “More than half of the respondents to CBRE’s 2023 U.S. Office Occupier Sentiment Survey said they plan to further reduce their office space in 2024.”
• Office tenants are engaged in a “flight to quality,” which refers to a migration to newer Class A spaces with the best amenities located in desirable “micro-districts” as they downsize to smaller office footprints. Syracuse’s Franklin Square was cited as an example of a city district benefiting from this trend, with the neighborhood’s office vacancy rate remaining at 2-3 percent, even as the rate for the overall metro area stands at 12.8 percent.
• The current office-leasing environment is challenging for both landlords and tenants. While increased vacancy rates have placed downward pressure on lease rates, increased operating costs and construction costs, and pressure on capital reserves has created “a mismatch between expected and actual lease rates.”
• Older office spaces and those lacking in desired amenities are increasingly being converted to other uses such as multifamily residential. Conversion of underperforming units is expected to accelerate if inflation eases and interest rates drop.
• The government, higher education, and health-care sectors will continue to drive demand for space in Central New York, per CBRE. The report cited a lack of available space on the Syracuse University campus at area hospital systems, which has benefitted adjacent properties.
CBRE forecasts that the national office vacancy rate will peak at 19.8 percent by the end of 2024 due to an economic slowdown in the first half of the year combined with the ongoing hybrid-work trend and new construction entering the market.
Indium Corporation announces 13 summer interns in a program that has launched many careers
CLINTON — Indium Corporation recently welcomed 13 new interns to its summer internship program. The initiative serves as a launch pad for college students, providing a real-world business environment for participants along with feeding the company’s future employment pipeline. Each intern is immersed in work experience through assignments, working on projects and programs that align
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CLINTON — Indium Corporation recently welcomed 13 new interns to its summer internship program.
The initiative serves as a launch pad for college students, providing a real-world business environment for participants along with feeding the company’s future employment pipeline. Each intern is immersed in work experience through assignments, working on projects and programs that align with company goals and business initiatives.
At the conclusion of the internship, the participants will have gained valuable insights into the technology industry, a network of professional contacts, and the opportunity to build their résumés and portfolios.
“Since the inception of our internship program in 2012, Indium Corporation has been proud to help talented young professionals launch their careers,” Nate Discavage, the company’s talent-acquisition supervisor, said in a news release. “We’ve witnessed our interns reach impressive milestones over the past decade, with many joining our company in a full-time capacity. We’re excited to see their potential unfold with the support of our incredible team.”
This year’s interns are: Keya Sharma, metal preform analysis intern; Veronica Nosov, thermal interface testing intern; Brian Marsh, soldering application intern; Rebecca Carpenter, robotics intern; Ryan Davis, technical support engineering intern; Wan-Chen (Carol) Yen, ergonomics engineering intern; Phuc (Claire) Doan, marketing communications intern; Jinanshi Mehta, business data analytics intern; Emin Skiljan, environmental health and safety engineering intern; Savia Boyer, chemical safety intern; Gavin Murphy, quality engineering intern; Arunachalam (Arun) Senthilkumar, manufacturing quality engineering intern; and Thuy Vuong, technical sales intern.
Indium Corporation is a materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal-management markets. Along with its U.S. operations, the company has facilities in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
EDR ranked on top 500 design firm list
SYRACUSE — EDR, a design, engineering, and environmental-services firm, was named to the Engineering News-Record “Top 500 Design Firms” list for 2024. Companies are ranked according to revenue for design services performed in 2023, according to Engineering News-Record, a publication focused on engineering and construction news and information. EDR officials extended gratitude to the firm’s
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SYRACUSE — EDR, a design, engineering, and environmental-services firm, was named to the Engineering News-Record “Top 500 Design Firms” list for 2024.
Companies are ranked according to revenue for design services performed in 2023, according to Engineering News-Record, a publication focused on engineering and construction news and information.
EDR officials extended gratitude to the firm’s clients, partners, and employees for their role in the achievement.
“It’s an honor to be again recognized as a top design firm by Engineering News-Record,” Mike Tamblin, principal at EDR, said in a press release announcing the news. “This achievement is a testament to the hard work, talent, and dedication of our team members, who continuously strive for excellence in everything they do.”
Founded in 1979, Environmental Design & Research, Landscape Architecture, Engineering & Environmental Services, D.P.C., which goes by EDR, specializes in public and energy infrastructure projects.
The firm, headquartered in Syracuse, has additional locations in Rochester, Albany, Saratoga Springs, and White Plains as well as Hershey, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Hyannis, Massachusetts; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
N.Y. manufacturing index improves in June, but still shows contraction
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rose 10 points to -6.0 in June, an improvement but still indicative of contraction in manufacturing activity in New York state. The general business-conditions index is the monthly gauge of New York’s manufacturing sector. Based on firms responding to the survey, the June reading indicates manufacturing business
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The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index rose 10 points to -6.0 in June, an improvement but still indicative of contraction in manufacturing activity in New York state.
The general business-conditions index is the monthly gauge of New York’s manufacturing sector. Based on firms responding to the survey, the June reading indicates manufacturing business activity “declined modestly” in the state, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its June 17 report.
A negative reading on the index shows a decline in the sector, while a positive number points to expansion or growth in manufacturing activity.
The survey found “new orders held steady, while shipments inched higher,” the New York Fed said. It also found optimism on the six-month outlook “picked up to its highest level in more than two years.”
The new-orders index climbed 16 points to -1.0, suggesting orders were “flat,” while the shipments index moved up to 3.3, pointing to a “small increase” in shipments, the New York Fed said.
Unfilled orders held steady. The inventories index came in at 1.0, indicating that inventories were level.
The delivery-times index remained below zero at -4.1, suggesting that delivery times shortened, while the supply availability index was -1.0, indicating supply availability was little changed.
The index for number of employees came in at -8.7 and the average-workweek index fell to -9.9, pointing to an “ongoing decline” in employment levels and hours worked.
The prices-paid index retreated 4 points to 24.5, and the prices-received index declined 7 points to 7.1, its lowest level in about a year, indicating that price increases continued to moderate.
Firms were more optimistic about the outlook than they have been in more than two years, the New York Fed said.
The index for future business conditions climbed 16 points to 30.1, with close to half of respondents expecting conditions to be better in six months. However, the outlook for employment growth “remained weak,” and capital spending plans “still appeared sluggish.”
The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.
SUNY Poly awards seed grants to 11 faculty-led projects
MARCY — Eleven faculty-led projects at SUNY Polytechnic Institute received a total of $440,675 in round one, seed-grant funds, the university announced. SUNY Poly’s associate provost for research office received the applications from faculty, which were reviewed by peers who determined which projects would be supported. The money comes from SUNY Poly’s $2.7 million share
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MARCY — Eleven faculty-led projects at SUNY Polytechnic Institute received a total of $440,675 in round one, seed-grant funds, the university announced.
SUNY Poly’s associate provost for research office received the applications from faculty, which were reviewed by peers who determined which projects would be supported. The money comes from SUNY Poly’s $2.7 million share of nearly $10 million in annual state funding to 14 SUNY campuses to expand research capacity, according to a SUNY Poly news release.
A total of 34 applications were received for the competitive first round. The 11 projects awarded funding are described in the release as follows:
• SUNY Poly President Winston Soboyejo, $52,000 for research with Theresa Ezenwafor and Lauren Endres on treatments for triple-negative breast cancer.
• Kazuko Behrens, $52,000 for a collaboration with Rebecca Weldon and Dan Jones that explores neurological and behavioral factors that correlate with the levels of sensitivity mothers exhibit while interacting with their children.
• Byeongdon Oh and Linda Weber, $52,000 for a collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley to develop an evidence-based prototype and policies to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM programs on college campuses.
• Patricia Roach, $52,000 to collaborate with Jerome Niyirora to use predictive analytics and machine-learning models to understand the interplay between adverse childhood experiences, war trauma, resilience, and physical/mental health outcomes in refugee populations.
• Jiayue Shen, $52,000 for a project in collaboration with Tabiri Kwayie, Desmond Klenam, Kwadwo Mensah-Darkwa, Henry Agbe, Sarah Osafo, Precious Osayamen Etinosa, Theresa Ezenwafor, and Winston Soboyejo to develop novel titanium alloys that could lead to advancements in biomedical implants.
• Arjun Singh and Priyangshu Sen, $52,000 for a project that aims to utilize machine learning and artificial intelligence applications and algorithms to solve problems related to terahertz (THz) hardware, propagation, and reliability issues.
• Mahmoud Badr, $32,000 for a project with Hisham Kholidy to enhance security and privacy in smart power grids by developing a framework for detecting electricity theft.
• Robert Edgell, $32,000 for a project with Bill Durgin and Juan Felipe Henao to develop The Sustainable Aerospace Energy Center, which will develop a decision-making framework to guide the aerospace industry toward more sustainable practices.
• Aarthi Sekaran, $32,000 for a collaboration with Ahmed Abdelaal to complete a detailed analysis of the upper trachea with a goal to develop a framework for enhanced design of mechanical ventilation assemblies.
• Adam McLain, $27,675 to lead a team to Nosy Hara, an island near Madagascar, to collect genetic data from a population of dwarf lemurs to better understand the level of genetic diversity in a small and isolated primate population and inform future conservation strategy.
• Rebecca Weldon, $5,000 to support an exercise that students in her research methods of psychology class will complete to evaluate information they are exposed to online with the goal of evaluating how effective the exercise is in reducing their susceptibility to misinformation.
SU reappoints dean of College of Engineering and Computer Science
SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) has reappointed J. Cole Smith to a five-year term as dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). The announcement follows a review process that included feedback from key stakeholders, including ECS faculty, staff, and advisory-board members. “In Cole’s nearly five years as dean, the College of Engineering
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SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) has reappointed J. Cole Smith to a five-year term as dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS).
The announcement follows a review process that included feedback from key stakeholders, including ECS faculty, staff, and advisory-board members.
“In Cole’s nearly five years as dean, the College of Engineering and Computer Science has grown stronger on multiple counts and made great strides towards reaching a new level of excellence,” Gretchen Ritter, vice chancellor, provost, and chief academic officer, said in the school’s June 10 announcement. “This is an exciting time for the college, and I can think of no better leader to shepherd the students, faculty, staff and alumni into this new era.”
Smith assumed leadership of ECS in October 2019, and since that time, ECS has had “several high points,” SU said. It underwent a big renovation, which included multiple new lab spaces and the Allyn Innovation Center and served to modernize ECS buildings and facilities.
The pending new Campos Student Center, supported by a recent $2 million donation that Smith helped secure, will further enhance the college’s physical space.
Smith also oversaw the development of the new Syracuse University Center for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, which brings together expertise in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, manufacturing processes, optimization and robotics to advance the science of semiconductor manufacturing.
He also helped launch a new master’s-degree program in operations research and system analytics, as well as the signature co-op program, SU said.
Under Smith’s leadership, ECS research expenditures grew 30 percent during the 2022-2023 academic year over 2019 levels. Enrollment, faculty size, and staff size are also on track to grow 50 percent in the next four years as part of a plan Smith developed.
He also helped guide the college toward bronze-level status in the American Society for Engineering Education’s Diversity Recognition Program, SU noted.
“Engineering and Computer Science is driving regional, national and international growth in areas such as advanced manufacturing, sustainable infrastructure, healthcare engineering, advanced computing technologies and materials science,” Smith said in the SU announcement. “I have never been a part of a more exciting moment at the nexus of college, University, city and national growth. What we are doing here matters and will resonate for decades to come, and it is a true privilege to have the opportunity to realize the transformational opportunity that awaits Syracuse University and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.”
Smith came to Syracuse from Clemson University, where he held positions as associate provost for academic initiatives and chair of the department of industrial engineering. His research focuses on integer programming and combinatorial optimization; network flows and facility location; computational optimization methods and large-scale optimization due to uncertainty or robustness considerations.
In 2023, he was named an Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) fellow, SU said.
2024 Architecture & Engineering Directory
Welcome to the 2024 edition of The Central New York Business Journal’s Architecture & Engineering Directory. This directory features current data and projects from the region’s architecture and engineering firms. Industry-specific data is also included to provide a snapshot of architecture and engineering in the region and state. Note: Not all of the businesses we
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Welcome to the 2024 edition of The Central New York Business Journal’s Architecture & Engineering Directory. This directory features current data and projects from the region’s architecture and engineering firms. Industry-specific data is also included to provide a snapshot of architecture and engineering in the region and state. Note: Not all of the businesses we surveyed submitted information.
HISTORY FROM OHA: The story of Lee & Green + Salt City Bottling Company
George Raynard Lee and Arthur Green founded Lee & Green in Sleaford, England, in 1881. The two men bottled aerated water at their Sleaford factory, and soon expanded to other English cities — Spalding in 1886; Bourne in 1891; and Skegness in 1899. Along with bottling aerated water, these factories brewed and bottled ginger beer,
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George Raynard Lee and Arthur Green founded Lee & Green in Sleaford, England, in 1881. The two men bottled aerated water at their Sleaford factory, and soon expanded to other English cities — Spalding in 1886; Bourne in 1891; and Skegness in 1899. Along with bottling aerated water, these factories brewed and bottled ginger beer, a fermented alcoholic beverage. Lee & Green bottled and sold its ginger beer in stoneware bottles.
As the demand for English–brewed ginger beer increased in the United States, particularly in New York state, Lee & Green opened ginger beer factories in Syracuse and Buffalo in the early 20th century. A brief article appearing in Syracuse’s The Post-Standard newspaper in September 1899 stated that George R. Lee of Bourne, England, was visiting Syracuse for the purpose of opening a soft drink factory in the city. While reconnoitering Syracuse as a possible location for an American ginger beer factory, Lee stayed at the home of his brother-in-law, Nelson G. Anderson, at 102 West Adams St. in Syracuse.
George Lee’s business partner, Arthur Green, opened the first American Lee & Green ginger beer factory at 113 Raynor Ave. in Syracuse in 1900. Green appointed Lee’s brother-in-law, Nelson Anderson, to manage the Syracuse factory for Lee & Green. Anderson continued to manage Lee & Green after Salt City Bottling Company purchased it in 1908; however, he left in 1916, then took a job as a liquor store clerk and, afterward, became a sexton at a Syracuse church.
A 1901 Syracuse City Directory advertised Lee & Green English-brewed ginger beer offered for sale in stone jugs and brewed under two flags: English and American. A typical Lee & Green stoneware bottle filled with ginger beer in Syracuse also promoted the four English cities in which Lee & Green was manufactured — Sleaford, Spalding, Bourne and Skegness. Lee & Green bottles filled in those four English cities likewise promoted Syracuse and Buffalo.
Diamond A Ginger Beer Company made its own ginger beer at 310 North West St. in Syracuse. This company also sold its ginger beer in stoneware bottles and advertised it as English-brewed. Company advertisements placed in The Post-Standard in 1906 promoted Diamond A ginger beer as healthful, good, and pure, honestly brewed and found in good places where drinks were sold. The company encouraged customers to remember the name: Diamond A Ginger Beer.
By 1908, a new beverage company, Salt City Bottling Company, had acquired both Lee & Green and Diamond A Ginger Beer Company. That year, Salt City Bottling Company bottled its ginger beer at 310 North West St. in Syracuse, the same location as the former Diamond A Ginger Beer Company. During the following year, in 1909, Salt City Bottling Company moved its operation to the rear of 113 Raynor Ave., the building formerly occupied by Lee & Green. The company’s advertisement at the back of the 1909 Syracuse City Directory declared it was making the English-brewed ginger beers formerly brewed by both the Diamond A Ginger Beer Company and Lee & Green.
By 1911, Salt City Bottling Company was using a new slogan in its advertisements: “The Original Beer ‘With A Pedigree.’” Company officials also boasted that Salt City Bottling Company was the largest ginger beer brewery in America. They invited the proprietors of regional hotels, cafes, restaurants, and saloons to request a sample order of ginger beer. So confident in its ginger beer, the Salt City Bottling Company managers practically guaranteed these hospitality venue proprietors an increase in their profits from ginger beer sales and, as a result, ginger beer sales would create in their customers a “come again” response to the drink.
To entice customers to buy their ginger beer, Salt City Bottling Company promoted it as “a real good, pure food beverage.” The company publicized that it would deliver a case of 24 stoneware bottles for 60 cents, which would be $24 in today’s dollars.
In a 1915 Syracuse City Directory business advertisement, Salt City Bottling Company announced it was selling a product called Bludwine, a cherry-flavored soft drink syrup that was made by the Bludwine Bottling Company in Athens, Georgia. Bludwine Bottling Company sold the syrup to soda fountains and bottling companies. The Bludwine Bottling Company promoted its syrup as having health benefits, especially as a digestion aid. Some Georgia physicians prescribed it for their patients. The Bludwine name later changed to Budwine and the company continued to produce the syrup into the 1990s. It is unclear how long Salt City Bottling Company continued to sell Bludwine, as it only appeared one time in the city directory.
After the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution — known as the National Prohibition Act — commenced in January 1920, prohibiting the public consumption of alcoholic beverages, Salt City Bottling Company sold soft drinks and permitted alcoholic beverages, promoting them for good health. The company emphasized that two drinks it sold, the Utica Club Pilsener and Brown Stout (both made by the West End Brewery in Utica), possessed beneficial health properties and asserted that these beverages were rich in vitamins, highly nourishing and stimulated one’s appetite. In a 1928 newspaper advertisement, Salt City Bottling Company encouraged its customers to drink Utica Club Pilsener-Wuerzburger twice a day, at the noon and evening meals, and “then watch the ruddy florid complexion” appear on one’s face.
In 1921, Salt City Bottling Company began to sell a new soft drink known as Smile, an orange drink that was made by the Orange Smile Syrup Company in St. Louis, Missouri, between 1920 and 1961. In a 1921 Syracuse Herald newspaper advertisement, Salt City Bottling Company encouraged its customers to “take a whole case with you.”
The Herald newspaper held its Herald Institute and Food Show in November 1927. The institute and food show featured a cooking school, food products exposition and home institute, all under one roof at 431 South Warren St. in Syracuse, opposite Schrafft’s Restaurant. Numerous food and home businesses had reserved booths at the institute and food show to demonstrate to attendees how to utilize their products to their best advantage. Among the distinguished group of meat, grain, fruit and coffee businesses was Salt City Bottling Company, most likely promoting its soft drinks and healthful alcoholic beverages. On the day of the exhibition, November 14, 1927, the Herald included several ads purchased by exhibition participants. In a brief article that enumerated bottling companies at the exhibition was a remark that a visit to the Salt City Bottling Company booth “would be one of the highlights.” A few days after the exhibition, the Herald published an advertisement in which Salt City Bottling Company endorsed Utica Club beverages as being appropriate “for those who appreciate good things to eat and drink.”
In July 1928, Salt City Bottling Company purchased a nearly half-page advertisement to heavily publicize a new drink: Grape Ola. The advertisement trumpeted, “Announcing Grape Ola from Real Grape Juice.” It endorsed Grape Ola as “the finest grape drink you’ve ever tasted!” As with other Salt City Bottling Company advertisements, this ad also emphasized the healthy qualities of its beverages: “Please note carefully that the word ‘imitation’ does not appear anywhere on the Grape Ola bottle or crown. That is because there is nothing imitative about the drink.” The ad also encouraged parents to “let your children drink all the Grape Ola they want – it’s good for them.”
Salt City Bottling Company was one of the main distributors of Utica Club beverages in Syracuse. The long list included soft drinks such as root beer and ginger ale, as well as alcoholic beverages such as Champagne Cider, Pilsener, Brown Stout, India Pale, Rock, and Wuerzburger.
In February 1934, after the 18th Amendment had been repealed, the West End Brewery in Utica announced that Salt City Bottling Company would be the Onondaga County distributor of its Fort Schuyler Ale and Lager. However, distributing these beverages would be the last business appointment Salt City Bottling Company would receive, as the company closed later that year. The company may have been one of many financial victims of the Great Depression. While the closure seemed sudden, it could have been months in the making.
Salt City Bottling Company’s building at 113 West Raynor Ave. in Syracuse is listed as vacant in the 1935 Syracuse City Directory. The building stayed vacant for the next six years until it was razed in late 1941, quite possibly to expand the parking lot for the Sears-Roebuck building, located on the corner of South Salina Street and West Raynor Avenue, which had opened in October 1929.
Harry Ayling, Sr., founded Salt City Bottling Company back in 1908. By the time the company closed in 1934, Harry, Sr., was company president; his son, Carl, was company VP; and Harry, Jr., was treasurer.
Harry Ayling, Sr., was born in England and migrated to Syracuse as a young man. His first job was working with his uncle in a painting and decorating company in Syracuse. He later opened his own painting and decorating business, and eventually founded Salt City Bottling Company to brew and sell ginger beer. Harry, Sr., died in January 1938 at age 86, four years after Salt City Bottling Company closed. He is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Warners.
His son, Carl, was company VP. After Salt City Bottling Company closed, Carl worked for Smith-Corona Company, from which he retired in 1958. Carl was deaf and married Louisa Brown, who was also deaf. In April 1963, Carl and Louisa celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. According to the Herald newspaper, they were perhaps the first deaf married couple to reach that milestone. When Carl died in 1983, at age 95, he was the oldest alumnus of the New York State School for the Deaf. Carl and Louisa also had been members of the Trinity Episcopal Church Mission to the Deaf for more than 60 years.
Like his father and brother, Harry Ayling, Jr., was a life-long resident of Syracuse. Along with being treasurer of Salt City Bottling Company, Harry, Jr., was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Syracuse. He had been ill for a long time and died at his daughter’s house in Camillus in April 1963 at age 83. He is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Warners.
Thomas Hunter is museum curator at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
OPINION: Border Security Wildy Popular
Majority of Americans support deportation, curbing asylum seeking at border Americans have had enough with the open-borders agenda, and polls show a vast spike in the share of Americans supporting the deportation of illegals and a reduction in asylum processing along the border. In other words, Americans now favor significantly stricter immigration policy than just
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Americans have had enough with the open-borders agenda, and polls show a vast spike in the share of Americans supporting the deportation of illegals and a reduction in asylum processing along the border. In other words, Americans now favor significantly stricter immigration policy than just a few years ago — including a majority of independents, Hispanics, and college-educated Americans.
The latest YouGov survey shows Americans would favor a deportation program to deport all illegal immigrants by a broad 24-point margin, or 62 percent to 38 percent. This represents a vast spike in the share of Americans favoring a deportation effort compared to just two months ago.
An NPR / Marist poll from April found that Americans supported the deportation of all illegals by just three percentage points, 51 percent to 48 percent. Now, Americans support deportation by 24 points.
Fox News analysis in February found that nearly 7.3 million illegals have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border under President Joe Biden, a number larger than the population of most U.S. states. Americans are aware of the strain the migrant crisis is putting on the country and are increasingly supportive of deportation efforts to reduce illegal immigration.
While a majority of Democrats (62 percent) oppose deporting all illegals, according to the survey, a full 38 percent support deportation. Independents support deportation of all illegals by a 20-point margin, 60 percent to 40 percent, and Republicans favor deportation by a 76-point margin, 88 percent to 12 percent.
Even college-educated Americans — who tend to lean left and favor Biden — support the deportation of all illegal aliens by a 16-point margin, 58 percent to 42 percent. Hispanics — another group to whom deportation could be construed as controversial — also support deportation of illegals by a six-point margin, 53 percent to 47 percent.
Similarly, a full 70 percent of Americans say they support a recent executive order partially shutting down asylum processing along the U.S.-Mexico border, which will allow U.S. immigration officials to quickly deport migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally. A full 76 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents approve of the order. In addition, 69 percent of Hispanics and 67 percent of college-educated voters support the effort to minimize migrant crossings.
These views are in-line with YouGov / CBS News polling from January which found dwindling support for allowing illegals to remain in the U.S., with most Americans (57 percent) saying asylum seekers should either remain in Mexico and wait for a hearing or be deported permanently.
Voters in the January poll also held a distinctly negative view of immigration’s long-term impact on the country, with the public saying, 48 percent to 22 percent, that the influx of migrants will make society worse in the long term.
Those views appear to have intensified over the past five months, with stronger favorability for deportation in the latest YouGov survey. With a reckless and unsustainable open-borders agenda that threatens civil society and national security, the political elites have pushed Americans to the brink. Even left-leaning groups, including many Democrats and college-educated voters, are expressing deep dissatisfaction with President Biden’s border crisis and a desire to deport illegal immigrants.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at the Americans for Limited Government Foundation, the research arm of Americans for Limited Government, a libertarian political advocacy group. The organization conducts policy research and publishes reports with the goal of reducing the size of the government.
OPINION: Americans have lost trust in government
Americans are more dissatisfied with their government than the citizens of any other major democracy, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. And we seem to be growing more skeptical of government every year. In 1964, when I was first elected to Congress, nearly 80 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right
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Americans are more dissatisfied with their government than the citizens of any other major democracy, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. And we seem to be growing more skeptical of government every year.
In 1964, when I was first elected to Congress, nearly 80 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing all or most of the time. In a sense, it made the job easier. You knew that most constituents would trust your decisions, or at least give you the benefit of the doubt.
Today, the numbers have reversed. Fewer than 20 percent of Americans trust government, according to polling by the Pew Research Center. Trust is higher, often much higher, in most other democracies, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.
The question is, what caused this change? There’s no simple answer, but I believe it reflects the plain fact that Americans want their government to deal with the issues that affect them, and they don’t see that happening. As the Post’s Dan Balz and Clara Ence Morse write, Americans “believe the political system is broken and that it fails to represent them. They aren’t wrong.”
Of course, the erosion of trust in government isn’t entirely new. Trust fell precipitously in the 1960s as Americans grew disillusioned with the Vietnam War. It continued to drop in the next decade — an era of high inflation and the Watergate scandal. The trust in government recovered somewhat in the 1980s, fell again, then rose with the strong economy of the 1990s. The 9/11 attacks brought a resurgence of patriotism, and more than half the country trusted the government to do the right thing.
In recent years, however, trust has been in a slump. Since 2007, trust in government hasn’t topped 30 percent. Trust has also declined in big business, the news media, higher education, the justice system and other institutions.
The Post analysis ties distrust of government to two sets of factors. One is that provisions in the U.S. Constitution make government unresponsive to majority rule. The other is that today’s intensely partisan politics make our representatives less likely to get things done.
The Constitution has served us well for 235 years; but, as the Post analysis notes, some of its features reflect the founders’ distrust of public opinion. One is the fact that the president is chosen by the Electoral College, not directly by the voters. In two recent elections, in 2000 and 2016, a candidate who lost the popular vote became president. Another is the fact that every state has two senators, regardless of population, which gives disproportionate power to less populous states.
“The result is that today, a minority of the population can exercise outsize influence on policies and leadership,” Balz and Morse write, “leading many Americans increasingly to feel that the government is a captive of minority rule.”
Also, gerrymandering and the concentration of like-minded people in blue or red states means that fewer elections are competitive. Just a handful of swing states decide presidential contests. Many Americans don’t think their vote matters because, in practical terms, it doesn’t.
Also, it’s no secret that our nation has become much more politically polarized. With the growth of social media, cable TV, and talk radio, many Americans live in partisan bubbles. To win elections, politicians appeal to the extremes and refuse to compromise. But compromise is necessary to address the issues that people care about, like immigration, jobs, abortion, and gun control.
Here’s the thing: Americans, for the most part, are reasonable people. They understand that these are tough problems to solve. They certainly don’t expect miracles, but they do want to see an effort being made to deal with the issues that affect them.
They want to have a sense that their leaders are committed to making progress. When they don’t see that, it’s no wonder they lack trust in government.
Lee Hamilton, 93, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south-central Indiana.
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